ALLOZYME COMPARISON AND INFECTIVITY OF CULTURED STAGES OF TRYPANOSOMA-FALLISI FROM SOUTHERN ONTARIO AND A TRYPANOSOME OF TOADS FROM NORTHERN MICHIGAN

Two clonal isolates of trypanosomes, previously identified as Trypanosoma bufophlebotomi Anderson and Ayala, 1968, from northern Michigan were compared with 5 cloned isolates of the structurally similar Trypanosoma fallisi Martin and Desser, 1990, from southern Ontario by protein electrophoresis of 6 isoenzyme systems. All observed allomorphs for Michigan isolates were also observed among isolates from Ontario, and overall similarity of Michigan isolates with Ontario isolates was high, indicating that isolates from toads of both regions were T. fallisi. Infectivity of cultured parasites from Ontario and Michigan to juveniles of Bufo americanus and Bufo boreas (the type host of T. bufophlebotomi) was assessed. Isolates from both Michigan and Ontario were infective to both toad species. This is consistent with a putative sister species relationship between T. fallisi and the type T. bufophlebotomi from California.